The Natural Christmas Tree

On December 23 of last year, I looked out my living room window at the red oak tree outside. It still had a few leaves on it, scattered on spreading branches.

Rain had frozen on the leaves, so that they had ice on them. The sun came out from the west behind the tree and shone on the leaves, making little gold lights which moved and glistened in the wind.

Then, as the sun went further down, there was more orange and the leaves looked like small candle-fires burning all over the tree, very lively and in motion. The sky behind the tree was very light blue and white, so that the tree really stood out. The "candles" kept shining brightly for a good fifteen minutes.

There were then bands of white clouds brightly lit from below, which blew out of sight to the east, and what was left was a vivid blue sky, like a summer sky, until a gentle orange appeared, and then a deep orange just before sunset.


Note: This is my last and final posting at Nature Ontario, as I have now covered all of the topics which I had planned at the beginning. These postings will be here until the blogsite provider decides to remove them, so now is your chance to read or print out any you may want. Thank you for your interest.

Biodiversity in the Bible

The Oxford "Cyclopedic Bible Concordance", printed in Britain in the 1940s, contains special sections listing the animals, birds etc. which are named in the Bible. The lists are very impressive. That is because the Holy Lands include a wide variety of natural habitats including "maritime and inland, mountain and plain, luxuriance and desert, cold and tropical, glacial and volcanic, pastoral and arable". So, the species which like any one of these places can live there.

Although some species of animals formerly abundant have disappeared, such as the lion, wild bull, rhinoceros and bison, 80 species of mammalia still existed there in the 1940s. How well have the present stewards of the Holy Lands preserved these species?

As for birds, the Concordance states that there were about 350 species there in the 1940s. The list of plants mentioned in the Bible includes 114 kinds, and the Concordance states that a noted scientist says of Palestine: "There is not another spot on earth where so much of nature is focused as in this little corner. You have Alpine cold and torrid heat. Here are all the animals, birds, insects, plants, shells, rocks of all zones".

If you compare the biodiversity of the former Palestine to Ontario's Tommy Thompson Park in Toronto, which is an internationally recognized important birding area, it has a list of 300 resident and migrant birds ever seen there. We used to have more animal species living in forests extending further south in Ontario, until the trees were cut down for lumbering and agriculture. We have quite a variety of habitats, from the warm south to the far north of our province, and we have more freshwater lakes than anywhere else in the world.


Note: You are encouraged to explore how your own religion supports biodiversity.

Nature in the Bible

The Book of Genesis begins with the story of creation - the creation of wildlife habitat, then the creation of all of nature's plants and creatures, and finally the creation of human beings in God's image. Since we were created in God's image, we are obviously meant to create and protect wildlife habitat too - as well as to support all forms of life. We are earthly stewards of God's creation.

Noah was a great conservationist. He constructed a very large boat, so that he, his relatives, and every kind of animal and bird could survive the great flood.

There are many quotations throughout the Bible which uphold the value of nature and the need to be kind to nature's creatures. Here are some examples:

"If you happen to see your enemy's cow or donkey run loose, take it back to him. If his donkey has fallen under its load, help him get the donkey to its feet again; don't just walk off." (Exodus 23:4-5)

"Work six days a week, but do not work on the seventh day, so that...even your animals can rest." (Exodus 23:12)

"A good man takes care of his animals, but wicked men are cruel to theirs." (Proverbs 12:10)

"Jesus said "For only a penny, you can buy two sparrows, yet not one sparrow falls to the ground without your Father's consent." (Matthew 10:29)


Note: You are encouraged to explore how your own religion supports life, nature and conservation.